Last few days i felt good about being a hindu... its seems a few thousand years ago some intrepid hindus travelled far east and spread the good god's word. Far east, really far east, far east like Java, Bali, Thailand and a whole lot of countries in between. The locals lapped it up and made a whole new religion for themselves.
So when a couple of millennium later I landed in Bali I saw around me all those familiar sights of beautiful hindu temples, colourful offerings, joss sticks and diyas. Even the gods were all familiar gods like Ishwara, Brahma, Vishnu & Mahesh.
We went to a traditional dance performance and they did a piece from Ramayan. A few days later we saw another performance, this time based on the Mahabharata. Our taxi driver spoke to us about Karma and how one had to be good right now so that in the next life we came back as humans and not animals. Somehow he got talking about how some religions were not tolerant of other religions but didnt they understand that all religions were mere paths leading to the same destination. Therefore why should one say that this path is better that the other, or why should one have to choose and stick with just one path?.
He spoke with difficulty, English was not his strong point but to me he neednt have spoken at all, his thought have been my thoughts for as long as I can remember, drilled and hard coded in my brain from all those spiritual lectures my devout grandma used to give us each night.
The final surprise was kept right till the end. On our way to the airport our taxi driver inserted a CD into the player. He smiled and said "you will like this" and from the speakers wafted in a melodiously sung Gayatri Mantra!!!
Feeling at home apart there was another reason why I felt good about being a hindu. Twice while haggling over the price of an artifact we were offered a special discount.... "you from India??? you Hindu??? here special special price....
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